Devil's Advocate
by WatsonsWarrior
Summary: Owen Grady knows that blood is thicker than water- and now he's finding out that it doesn't matter if it's warm or cold. But loyalty and respect isn't easily earned; it's fought for. / Jurassic World verse- Owen learns the ins-and-outs of training the raptors, and along the way learns the ups and downs of having the closest thing to a family he's ever had.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I know this is being done/has been done, but hey. This is a good story line with some intense back-story, if we'd seen more of it. The relationship between Grady and the squad is ridiculously drawing to me for some reason. So here is my take- my little contribution- to the reason they function like they do. AND besides that, Owen Grady is beautiful and his raptors are something else and together.. *whistles* Hard to beat. Read on and enjoy. ALSO- unbeta'd as of right now, so all mistakes are mine.**

 _ **Disclaimer: I'm the one who wasn't even aware of Jurassic World's release. Okay. My grandma took me to see it, alright? The second movie came out the year I was born. So I don't own/have any rights to any of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World storyline/characters/etc. And unfortunately, no, I don't make any money from this, although they have plenty to spare from their new record of biggest opening weekend in movie history...**_

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No. He wasn't afraid; his heart was just racing. He wasn't trembling; it was the four AM chill sneaking it's way beneath his clothes. The wind whispered across Owen's skin, blowing the murmurs from the men behind him into the wind. His boots rapped sharply on the concrete as they crossed the yard to the nursery. A wispy fog had laid itself over the area, lit eerily by the bright light posts. There was a gentle hum from the nearby generator, and it all made him even more on edge. The call had come fifteen minutes ago, and he'd made the ten minute drive from his trailer off-site in less than five. He'd gotten a funny look from Joel when he climbed off his motorcycle. _"You regularly wear your shirts inside out?"_ Joel was the head of feeding, supply management and population monitoring. He took care of rations, ordering shipments, choosing which predators to let loose and which ones to hold back. He'd been there for a while before they'd hired Owen, and was aware of more than he let on. People generally seemed to respect him, even those higher-up in the food chain. He'd helped Owen find his way around the first week, and was exceedingly useful and knowledgeable on anything to do with dinosaurs of all sorts. A good guy, but probably too smart for his own good. Ever the military man, Owen calculated everyone he met and he knew if something went wrong, (he wasn't born yesterday, he knew what he was getting into,) he'd hope Joel was on his side.

Owen watched as the two security guards fell back with Lowery, who had pulled out his tablet and was looking at what Owen halfway recognized as a diagram for the new paddock. He wished Ms. Dearing and Joel would've followed suit and remained outside, but he wasn't going to complain. Imprinting was the important part, and they both knew better than to get in the way of something quite so vital. _Quite so scary._

The eggs were in an incubator, of sorts. The nursery was a protected building next to the area where the paddock was being built for the new additions. It would be a strictly velociraptor-only area, once it was built. In the nursery, there were heat lamps and controlled-temperature nests, feeding bins, a crash cart, and nothing else. It was meant to be as homely as possible-although Owen had never seen a regular nursery quite as surveilled as this. Cameras in every corner and fingerprint-only doors. Owen knew how it worked- these were GMO eggs if he'd every seen one, and only God knew what the scientists had done to get them in there. No living dinosaur had made those, and no-one was willing to risk losing them. The eggs were all slightly different, clustered together in the straw. It was silent in the nursery, the hum of the lamps and the rain on the roof the only sounds. Claire sighed, breaking the silence. "Every time I see them, I just.. they're so unique. We made something from nothing, you know?"

Owen glanced at her. Joel gave him a look, knowing Owen was more likely to shoot his mouth off than to just leave it. "Not from nothing. They're a little bit of this, some of that, but one hundred percent something."

Claire was silent for a moment as they studied the eggs. Two of them were gently twitching. "And you're here to make them that something."

He shrugged, and didn't reply. Who knew how this would go. He could only hope for something new and surprising. Retired Navy, he wasn't as naive to think he'd have done well with a normal civilian job, and wasn't brave (or maybe dumb) enough to pry too far into what else was going on at the large-scale amusement park. As long as he could stick to training and being generally disliked by people because he could do what they wouldn't- he'd be at home. It'd work out.

An hour later, the first one hatched. The air was tense, and crackling with excitement and worry. Owen was sure his heart was beating loud enough the others could hear it on the other side of the glass isolation doors. He waited until it broke free from the shell, and then held the reptile to his chest, slime and all. She was a cloudy black and grey, with a dark blue stripe down her back. A small cry came from her throat, and Owen almost laughed. "Hello, Blue."

"Blue?" Claire turned to Joel behind the glass, a questioning look directed his way.

"She's his beta," Joel suggested.

"So?"

Joel motioned to the other eggs. "Each one is a little different. Each one will have her own name. They're his team. He's going by what you would know as the NATO phonetic alphabet. You know, Alpha Bravo Charlie. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. Whatever. I guess his second in command gets a little more personalization." He gazed at the firstborn raptor, grinning. It was a moment not many got to witness- the birth and imprinting of such a... unique species.

"She's a pretty one," Claire said. They watched as Owen interacted with her on the other side of the glass. Claire wasn't fooled by his reputation- the gentleness in his hands and the slow, calming manner he was using was obvious to anyone looking on.

"Her main DNA strand came from a Black-Throated African Monitor lizard. She'll probably live up to her name," Joel commented.

"I thought their stripes mostly ran the other direction."

"She's not _actually_ one of them." Joel scratched away at his notepad, writing down the weight and distinguishing markings on the reptile's body right next to time of birth. They would get weight once Owen was done, and do general health checkups and everything else that was absolutely required when breeding and raising such an aggressive and unusual species.

The next two came together- Echo, and then Delta. They were both equally as slimy, but the latter was greener and more wiry. As Owen held Echo, Delta was emerging into the small world of the nursery. He picked her up in his unoccupied arm and began talking to her in muted tones. There was almost a squabble between the two- Echo lunged for Delta, and Owen intercepted the small mouth with his hand. He'd have a nice bruise on his wrist for a few days.

Charlie came last, and almost not at all. Owen almost took charge and broke the egg- but there was no need. Blue, making clucking noises and calling loudly, broke the egg herself and pulled pieces out from the crack. A smaller and weaker looking velociraptor crawled out of the egg, falling into the dirt and straw of the incubator. Owen picked it up- and ended up not putting it down much at all for the next two weeks. She was small, long. They said it was because of the multiple stands of Green Iguana DNA they'd used, but Owen knew there was some sort of defect that they wouldn't fess up to. He cared for her without ceasing, scared to lose her but not naive enough to think he could stop her from dying. There was one night when she started hacking, a cough that turned into a gurgle, shudders wracking her green body. He'd been most scared then, but once it was over, he'd felt relieved. It couldn't get worse than that, when he could physically feel her lying limply in his hands, almost gone. Owen hadn't spent more than three nights away from the nursery since they had been born. Nobody interfered, nobody objected. They considered him doing more than his job at that point; Owen Grady knew better. He knew this was his job, and he was simply giving it the most he could. So it began. Claire would look in on them every couple of days, to remind him of a training schedule he needed to come up with, of the parameters he was allowed to break and of the ones he couldn't. Charlie got steadily better, gathering her strength and growing rapidly in the next month. They became more like their grown-up counterparts, all limbs and teeth and danger. Owen did make a training chart eventually, writing down goals in his leather-bound moleskin.

 _1\. Gain a mutual respect._

 _2\. Come to terms with receiving commands (and following them, eventually.)_

 _3\. Build a two-way communication- a team as a whole to their Alpha, the Alpha to the squad._

 _4\. Protect them from outside influences!_

The last one was a big one. He could fail, given one person making a singular wrong move. They were so fragile, for such strong creatures. So touchy. They needed to be handled carefully, every move deliberately thought-through. You could ruin potential twice as fast as you could save it. Owen knew that well because he knew himself- and somehow, the situation with his new squad wasn't far from relatable.

"They'll be amazing some day," Claire had breathed, watching them that night in the nursery after all was said and done. Lowery had joined them around sunrise, and Owen was standing beside him watching his new charges. He didn't disagree with Claire, but it was more than that. They were already amazing. Awe-inspiring. His hands were still trembling, but for different reasons. As he'd held each of them to his chest, watching their body cues and feeling the wet, sinewy skin beneath his hands- it was as if they were each a silent cry of wilderness, a new land, wild and free and untamed- and he was the explorer, discovering it. Discovering them- and maybe somewhere in there, discovering himself at some point.

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So. R&R. Can't wait to flesh this out. Let me know what you guys think!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Not much to say- thank you all so much for the wonderful feedback and great response. That definitely helps fuel me onward to the next chapter. You guys are some cool cats, k?**

 _ **Typical disclaimer: I do not own, nor make any profit off of anything to do with Jurassic Park and/or Jurassic World. Unfortunately. Nor do I own it or any of the rights, plots, etc., etc. If I did, I would have my own raptor squad and Chris Pratt would be hired as my best friend. Okay? Okay. Moving on.**_

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"Hey, watch it. I see you."

A guilty raptor claw stopped halfway through the air, pausing mid-swipe. Owen glared sideways at the green fiend. Delta returned the glare, but slowly retracted her claw. Owen nodded. "Thanks." That was the third time in one morning she'd tried to take his lunch. Over the last couple of days, the four siblings had developed quite a taste for his chicken salad sandwiches and chocolate chip cookies. Owen had been angry at first- but the irritation had faded and he'd laughed for a full five minutes when he realized he'd been duped by a bunch of reptiles. _Smart ones, but hey._ He chose not to move his lunch from the vulnerable position near the fence, using it as a teaching tool for showing them he was always watching. They weren't just free to do as they pleased all the time. Their morning had been spent working on the build- up for an exercise Owen was hoping to do with them at some point. One at a time, he'd been training them all to seek out a circular hole dug in the field. Every couple days, a project manager changed the location of the hole per Owen's request. The catch was the blindfold- each raptor was deprived of sight during the exercise. When they walked forward, Owen would make a particular noise on his whistle. Each direction had its own whistle signal, and the raptors picked up on it quickly. By this, they could find the hole in no time in all once they allowed themselves to follow his cues. Each raptor had the same signals, but each a different toned whistle. This morning, he'd thrown two of them into the exercises together and given them both their separate cues for finding the hole. He was ridiculously pleased with their progress, but it absolutely put him over the moon when he saw that they started to strategize against each other. Instead of making noises and called out in exasperated distress, they walked quietly; carefully, all the while trying to beat the other to the hole. Eventually, he'd be able to put the whole training exercise into one piece and test it out. They were making great progress though. One step at a time.

Claire was supposed to be coming by soon- she wanted to see how they were doing on the growth charts. Owen was pretty pleased- within the last month, they'd each grown their long claw, their colors and markings became more defined, and they were starting to react to commands much better than before. Of course, that wasn't to say everything had gone smoothly... They had completely ignore him for two straight days when he first introduced them into the paddock, screamed in high-note velociraptor calls every time Claire came in for the first month, and then they'd eaten through the security panel on the paddock door. Just to mention a few incidents. Owen wasn't bothered, though. They were dinosaurs. Anyone who wanted to totally restrict them was out of their ever-loving mind. You can't restrict forces of nature.

"Mr. Grady!"

"Claire. Nice to see you, as always." He smirked at her. Owen meant it. Her hair blew across her face in the breeze and the sheer fabric of today's skirt reflected the sunlight.

"You could call me Owen, you know."

"Yes, I do know." She smiled coyly. "How are things?"

"Oh, decent. Thanks for asking. I've got an itch in the middle of my back that won't go away. Loving this weather, though."

A sigh. "You know what I mean. With the raptors."

They made their way toward the paddock. Joel had started feeding a half hour ago and was just leaving. Owen waved to him as he left. The girls were nowhere to be seen, so Owen lead Claire around the corner. Blue had found a hideout in the brush at the back of the paddock and had only been able to enjoy the solidarity for a couple of hours before the others had joined her. It had become a favorite haunt of theirs in the afternoon- grass, a small pond (more like an overgrown puddle, really) and closely clumped trees.

"They're doing well. Charlie's gained three pounds, which is pretty significant."

"To be expected, considering she was the smallest."

"Sure. She's just had a growth spurt, finally." Owen climbed onto the platform and motioned at the raptors below. "Blue is definitely asserting herself as the leader. I'm not sure how long it'll be before they get into a fight, but I'm not going to stop it if it happens. They've got a chain of command to figure out."

"As long as they don't kill each other in the process," Claire shrugged. Owen bit his tongue. No use getting into it with her now, anyway. "How is training going?"

"Fine."

"I expect the full forms and reports are in the office?" Claire asked. Owen nodded. They stood there silently, watching the raptors wrestling each other in the shade. "Looks like a nasty storm is headed this way." He grunted in agreement. They were supposed to get some rain, 20 mph gusts of wind, and thunder. After a few minutes, she thanked him, and with a last glance toward the raptors, took off, heels echoing on the platform.

Claire had been right about the storm, but they'd all underestimated it. The weather weasels (his dad had always called them that,) had said light rain, if any. By nightfall, the wind was howling and gusting hard enough that Owen had a struggle pulling the door shut on his pickup. It started raining just as he pulled up to the raptor area, buckets of water gushing down onto dry, thirsty earth. He swore, slamming the car door shut behind him. Pulling the hood of his U.S.N. jacket over his head and flicking on his flashlight, he made his way to the paddock. The alert had gone out an hour ago that the generators were hit and the backup generator had failed to turn on. That meant the power wasn't working to electronically open the gates to the paddock, and the lights were out, as well as security cameras and electric fencing. A cry from inside the fence jerked his senses into focus.

"Delta!" Sure, nobody else would have believed that he could distinguish their calls. But that was his girl.

Another cry. Owen was on the platform in a heartbeat, shining his flashlight into the clearing below. He searched for the raptors with the beam as the cry sounded again- though this time the cry was joined by another, more distressed yell. It took Owen less than two seconds to launch himself over the other side of the paddock fencing, landing on the ground with a thump and falling onto his back. Pulling himself up and reaching for the flashlight he'd dropped, he followed the sounds. His boots were soaked through, jeans muddied, heart thumping wildly. He didn't know why he was so worried. It wasn't as if they'd never seen a storm before, not like they weren't wild animals, born to live in these circumstances. Not like he was the only one they really could trust, not like they were the closest thing to his heart. Nah.

Rounding the corner and breaking through a hedge of trees, Owen came to a stop. In front of him was a sight so human he was momentarily stunned. Anyone who said raptors weren't intelligent- weren't capable of human emotion- they'd never seen this. They'd never seen what playing god was capable of producing.

A tree limb had fallen- with Echo underneath. The others were standing by, watching. Charlie, Blue. Their body language was all worry and tension-muscles tensed, bent and poised as though waiting for something else to happen. Delta was by Echo's head, and as Owen stepped forward, she turned to glare at him. Her little body rose to its full height, and she bared her teeth. He paused. Echo made small, guttural noises at her sibling. Delta looked down at her, then turned again toward Owen. She crouched- Owen stood stock still, wondering whether or not she was going to let him help- whether or not he was about to have a pair of raptor teeth in his arm. She seemed to be sizing him up. On a whim, he crouched slowly, landing on his knees and putting his hands up in a motion of surrender. For a moment, all that he knew was the raptor staring him straight in the face and the fear of an attack from the side. The rain dripped down the bill of his baseball cap and hit his already soaking jeans. Then- slowly- she stepped backward, and crouched onto her haunches. Owen moved forward on his knees to where Echo lay still. She glanced up at him with dark eyes and he saw himself. Vulnerability. Shoving away the infringing doubt, he assessed the log and decided he could move it easily. Grabbing and bracing his foot against a rock, he pushed and pulled- and with the help of physics, the offending branch moved.

Echo yelled, followed by a cry from Owen. A sharp pain lanced upward through his elbow and down into his fingertips, and he could feel warm, slick blood washing down his arm and pooling in the bottom of his jacket sleeve. He managed to not drop the log as he cast his eyes sideways, throwing a glare in Delta's direction. "Don't. You stand down." He whistled, the tone for backing up coming into his head. She tilted her head, hissing. Owen repeated the cue, breathing heavily. She took a step back, and he took the opportunity to push himself forward and throw the log away. He crouched back, leaning against a tree. Delta was eyeing him, but he ignored her and inspected the wound. It was deep, and curved from just below the top of his elbow downward and to the underside of his forearm. Leaning his head back against the tree, he let the rain drip down his face and thought about his bungalow. Warm, not wet, and he could trust his bed and tv stand not to claw him. No, he wasn't bitter. Just bleeding.

Owen jumped when something touched his arm. It quickly withdrew- a nose. A wet raptor nose. Echo was standing warily beside him, reaching out with her face. Owen reached out and put a hand to her face. "It's okay. Hey. It's fine." Echo nuzzled his hand, then flopped onto the ground. Her head came to rest on his leg, slowly, and then completely. He smiled. Delta had settled on his other side, farther away. Charlie and Blue were most reluctant to join the others, but had settled down. Echo clucked, tickling Owen's leg with the vibration from her long throat. He reached out, ran a finger across her head. "That's my girl."

Joel didn't say anything when he came in that morning and found Owen in the pen, Echo still resting on his knee, the other three nearby if not nestled up next to him. He woke him up, helped him up, didn't say anything as he shook the cold out of his bones and held his arm to his chest. It hurt like a bitch this morning- much more than the night before. Owen sat still while Joel cleaned his arm, bandaged it. He didn't say it needed stitches, Owen knew. He didn't tell him he was irresponsible, or what he had been doing. He didn't say that Claire would've been upset, or that he was behind in feeding now. He didn't comment that the whole island was running a little behind this morning, and that Owen seemed to be the only one who wasn't bothered by it at all.

"Why?"

Owen glanced up at him, sleepy eyes. He took off his ball cap, ran a hand through damp hair, shrugged. "They need me." He wouldn't meet Joel's eyes, feeling the impending statement before it was uttered.

"You mean you need them." It wasn't a question. Owen knew that. Joel patted him on his arm and left the office, and Owen made his way to his truck. He needed to change clothes- and maybe, possibly-definitely- sleep for a few days.

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So. I skinned a bunch of plot bunnies last night and hung 'em up to dry. Next chapter will see some of that, I'm thinking. Who knows. Raptor squad does what raptor squad wants. R&R, if you'd be so kind!


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